Thomas Daschle: “I suggest that he tear down the tree, take away all of the obstacles that he laid down last night to considering the…”

“I suggest that he tear down the tree, take away all of the obstacles that he laid down last night to considering the Energy bill, and I believe we could make constructive progress. I think we could perhaps finish the electricity title by the end of this week, but we cannot do that and then also do what he is now asking of us, which is to debate one of the most controversial nominees to be passed out of the Judiciary Committee. We cannot do both. He wants us to have a vote on that nominee tomorrow morning, and I see no other option but simply to debate the nominee. He also would like very much for the trade bill to come up. There are 6 hours of time locked in for that. I do not know how we do the trade bill, an extraordinarily controversial nominee for the Ninth Circuit, and then I know he wants to do the supplemental bill as well. That is going to take some time. So how do we do all of these? Having been the majority leader, I must say it is one of the most challenging parts of the job, but I think his colleagues were right; they said publicly he made a mistake, and I think they were right in their estimation of the schedule for this week.”